Golf ball tees



March 27, 1956 L. N. DANIELS GOLF BALL TEES Filed Nov. 25, 1952 INVEN TOR.

United States Patent GOLF BALL TEES Lewis N. Daniels, Seattle, Wash.

Application November 25, 1952, Serial No. 522,474

1 Claim. (Cl. 273-453) My invention relates to improvement in golf ball tees particularly to tees that are durable and long lasting, for regular drives and practice drives, including features that will serve to relieve the golfers tension and therefore improve the golfers drives.

The objects of my invention are first, to provide a golf ball tee by means of which the ball can be teed more easily, and at a constant height above the teeingsurface, without the effort required to force the present widely-used pointed tee to the desired height into the driving-elf mat or turf; second, a tee that conforms to the engaging surface on the ball regardless of its shape; third, a tee that after the drive is made in an accepted manner, will remain in its upright position; fourth, a tee that when the ball is struck will not alter the loft imparted to the ball by the angle of the club face; fifth, a tee that when the drive is made, will absorb the blow of the golf club head and therefore will not be chipped or broken;

sixth, a tee that if turned on its side by the club head will roll in a circular path and its distance of roll will thus be limited.

A fuller understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention may be had by referring to the following description and claim in conjunction with the drawing forming a part thereof, and in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of the tee resting on its base with a phantom outline of the ball as teed.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section view of the tee at line 22 Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the tee from Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a top view of the tee from Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a detached plan view of the base weight 14 one-half of which is shown in Fig. 2.

Referring to the illustrations, 11 in Fig. 2 indicates the circular shaped tee wall and base section 12 which as a unit is formed of rubber, synthetic rubber or other plastic having the required resilient and flexible properties when cured. Wall 11, as shown, tapers upward from the base-section 12 to the smaller diameter rim 13 to hold .and conform to the engaging surface on the ball. Base section 12 is purposely increased in thickness from where it joins wall 11 to add weight and partly enclose metal or alloy base weight 14, to obtain the lowest possible center-of-gravity and to provide rigidity and stability to that point of the tee. The narrow circular raised land 15 at the outermost edge on the base is to support and to prevent the tee from rocking.

Numeral 14 in Fig. 5 indicates the metal or alloy base weight, having a series of holes 16 through and adjacent to its outer edge, for the intrusion of the plastic body material when formed, and to attach weight 14 permanently to the base section 12.

Having now described the construction of my device I will proceed to describe how the recited objects have been attained by a recent reduction to practice.

With the ball resting in the palm of the hand and the fingers holding the tee against the ball, the tee and ball are positioned for the drive. When the drive is made in an accepted manner, the flexible, yielding tee rim is deflected by the ball and club head, and the tee, because of its Weighted base, remains in its upright position. At the moment the ball leaves the tee as described, because of such deflection in the rim, the tee does not affect nor does it alter the loft imparted to the ball by the angle on the club face. If the bail and tee are struck a somewhat lower blow, the major force of the club head will be absorbed by the flexible tee Wall, the tee will momentarily be turned on its side and then returned to its upright position; or, as has happened on a few occasions, because of its conical shape the tee will roll in a circular path and the distance of roll will be limited in extent. If the tee is struck an accidental low blow at its circular, less resilient base, its direction will be in the ball lineof-flight, and therefore, can be readily observed and consequently recovered. The tee, being made of a resilient, flexible material, has never been cut or broken by the numerous impacts of the regulation golf clubs to which it has been subjected.

While the illustrations, constructions and arrangements described are those of one form of my invention, I wish it to be understood that my invention is not to be limited to the specific arrangement of parts herein described and shown.

I claim:

A golf tee for supporting a ball to be struck by a club comprising a relatively thick flat circular base of elastic material having a centrally positioned opening therein; a symmetrically positioned washer shaped weight permanently and fixedly embedded in said base, said Washer shaped weight having holes extending through it adjacent to its periphery and said elastic base having integral portions intruded through said holes firmly anchoring the washer shaped weight in the elastic base; a tee-supporting ring shaped land extending downwardly from the peripheral portion of the base; and an integral ball-supporting tubular member of elastic material and of slightly decreasing diameter from bottom to top thereof extend ing upwardly from the peripheral portion of said base, the walls of said tubular ball-supporting member being of uniform thickness and being thin and highly elastic and said tubular member terminating in a thin conformable circular upper end portion providing a relatively large highly elastic circular ball seat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 648,956 Herrick May 8, 1900 1,604,390 Coker Oct. 26, 1926 2,470,574 Nelson May 17, 1949 2,626,150 Karns Jan. 20, 1953 2,661,213 Barnard Dec. 1, 1953 2,675,237 Willcox Apr. 13, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 20,690 Great Britain 1914 379,917 Great Britain Sept. 8, 1932 

